From an isle in the Pacific to the United Kingdom and all the places in between,my journey has included windy deserts,windy beaches,large cities,and tiny towns.It's no wonder that I've grown to love new places and new experiences. Always the new guy, never the expert,but finally becoming comfortable with being different; as odd as a seagull in the mountains,I share perspectives that could only be gained in my own Nikes.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

I know you've all been dying to see my finished chimney. First, I want to tell you about Thompson's WaterSeal. I started off with a small can 'cause of course I had no idea what I was doing. Well, I ran out 2/3 of the way along and so went back to our trusty Ace Hardware and they were out. So I bought the gallon-sized can. As you can see the label is exactly the same. Well, it's not the same! The little can contained a clear liquid with an ever-so-slight level of viscosity: the ratio of the tangential frictional force per unit area to the velocity gradient perpendicular to the direction of flow of a liquid.

Anyone want to try to put that into layman's terms?

I poured some of the sealer from the big can into the container which was now living its second life helping me finish my beautiful brick chimney. Something was WRONG. This stuff was not the same! It was very watery and very white.

After panicking, I used my highly honed powers of observation and found the difference between the two cans.

Voila! (can you even see it? it's so small)

Upon consulting with the professionals whom I keep in my pocket at all times, I forged ahead with the milky stuff.

Here are my findings, for anyone who might be interested in such nugatory subject matter. The clear liquid absorbed right into the brick and mortar, giving me an oddly satisfactory feeling. (Could this be connected to my fetish with feeding people?) It would run down but not quicker than I could use my brush to guide it where I wanted. The milky stuff stayed out on the surface and raced down the brick, forcing me to frantically try to corral it. (This same thing happens when you take a toddler out of a bathtub.)

Okay, I know. You just want to see the stinking chimney; the exposed brick that sends my heart into flutter and stretches my face into a smile. To do this project justice, though, let's look again at the different phases.

See that cabinet on the right? That was built onto the left side of the chimney. The wall wrapped around it. You can just barely see the arched opening on the right which faced the front door.

This shows the right side with most of the wall removed.

Wretched plaster!

This shows the right side. Because it was built up against an already existing wall, the mortar was a mess.